Apollo-Soyuz-Test-Program-artist-rendering

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Kerim Abbasali oghlu Kerimov (, ; November 14, 1917March 29, 2003) was a Soviet and Russian engineer of Azerbaijani ethnicity and a general in

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

, who is regarded as one of the key scientists and founders in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

space program A space program is an organized effort by a government or a company with a goal related to outer space. Lists of space programs include: * List of government space agencies * List of private spaceflight companies * List of human spaceflight prog ...

, and for many years a central figure in the Soviet space program. Despite his prominent role, his identity was kept a secret from the public for most of his career. He was part of the ''

Sputnik 1 Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program ...

'' team in 1957. As a representative of the

Strategic Rocket Forces The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF; ) is a military branch, separate combat arm of the Russian Armed Forces that controls Russia's land-based intercontinenta ...

, he was a member of the State Commission on the Vostok programme, which led to the

Vostok 1 Vostok 1 (, ) was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human spaceflight, human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 12 April 1961, with Soviet astronaut, c ...

flight. In the mid-1960s he was promoted to a leadership role within the space program and oversaw the successful space docking of Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188 in 1967. Kerimov served as a project manager for the '' Salyut series'' space stations in the 1970s and served as a consultant to the ''

Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

'' project later in his career.Peter Bond
Obituary: Lt-Gen Kerim Kerimov
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 7 April 2003.Betty Blair (1995),
Behind Soviet Aeronauts: Interview with General Karim Karimov
, AZER.com at ''Azerbaijan International,'' Vol. 3:3 (Autumn 1995), pp. 34–37, 82.

Early life

Kerim Kerimov was born on November 14, 1917, in a family of an engineer-technologist in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

(then part of the

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federative Republic in the 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Rus ...

). After graduating from the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute in 1942, Kerimov continued his education at Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy, where he committed himself to design and development of rocket systems.

Career

An expert in rocket technology, he worked during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

on the inspection and acceptance of the famous Katyusha rocket launchers. His work was honoured with the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

. Kerim Kerimov has been involved in Soviet aeronautics from its inception. After World War II, Kerimov worked on the Soviet

intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

program, rising by 1960 to head the Third Directorate of the Main Directorate of Missile Weapons (GURVO) of the USSR Ministry of Defense that oversaw secret test launches. Along with other rocketry experts, he was sent to Germany in 1946 to collect information on the German V-2 rocket. In 1964 he became head of the newly formed Central Directorate of the Space Forces (TsUKOS) of the USSR Ministry of Defense. Following the death of

Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He invented the R-7 Sem ...

in 1966, Kerimov was appointed Chairman of the State Commission on Piloted Flights and headed it for 25 years (1966–1991). He supervised every stage of development and operation of both crewed space complexes as well as uncrewed interplanetary stations for former

. Kerimov was also the Head of Chief Directorate of the Ministry of General Machine Building in 1965-1974, which was engaged in the creation of rocket systems. A string of challenging incidents occurred at the start of his tenure as Chairman, beginning with the loss of the Kosmos 133, failed ''Soyuz'' test flights, and the Soyuz 1 fatality, which halted the crewed program for eighteen months. The

government of the Soviet Union The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest organ of state power, highest body of state authority, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, All-Union Supreme Soviet. It ...

continued to press for the continuation of its crewed moon program, though, and Kerimov's successful overseeing of the Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188 linkup earned him the rank of Lieutenant General. He was given responsibilities in managing the

Salyut The ''Salyut'' programme (, , meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed military reconnaissa ...

space station program. Progress on the project stalled after that, and the deaths of the crew of the Soyuz 11, who successfully boarded the

Salyut 1 Salyut 1 (), also known as DOS-1 (Durable Orbital Station 1), was the world's first space station. It was launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. The Salyut programme, ''Salyut'' program subsequently achieved five m ...

and perished prior to

re-entry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...

, required an extensive redesign of the

Soyuz spacecraft Soyuz () is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraf ...

. Kerimov supported the continuation of the N1 rocket project, opposed by several influential Soviet political figures due to its repeated failures, which led to his demotion from his leading role in the space program. He continued to chair the Soyuz missions after his demotion.

Soviet secrecy

As in the case of other Soviet space pioneers, the Soviet authorities for many years refused to disclose Kerimov's identity to the public. At televised space launchings, cameras always focused on the cosmonauts and not the person to whom they reported their readiness to carry out the mission. As Kerimov was a "secreted general", he was always hidden from the camera's view; only his voice was broadcast. His name remained a secret until the era of “

glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...

” in

, when he was first mentioned in ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...

'' newspaper in August 7, 1987. Prior to that, he was always known as the "nameless" or "anonymous" Chairman of the Commission.Blair, Betty. "Behind Soviet Aeronauts: Interview with General Karim Karimov", AZER.com, ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 3:3 (Autumn 1995), pp. 34-37, 82.

Retirement and death

After his 1991 retirement, Kerimov was a Consultant to the Main Space Flights Control Centre of the Russian Federal Space Agency, and wrote ''The Way to Space'', a history of the

Soviet space program The Soviet space program () was the state space program of the Soviet Union, active from 1951 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Contrary to its competitors (NASA in the United States, the European Space Agency in Western Euro ...

. He was a

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

, a laureate of

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

and

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

prizes of the

, and a

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

of the

. He died March 29, 2003, in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, at the age of 85.

Notes

References